Cruising into retirement

By Matthew Beaton / The News Herald

Published: Sunday, March 23, 2014 at 05:15 PM.

“If you’ve got the right frame of mind and you're comfortable on your boat, and you’ve got the necessary skills not to be nervous, it’s not a hardship at all,” Steve Erben said, adding, “We didn’t have a yearning to get off the boat.”

In fact, they were so comfortable they’re about to leave on another similar-length trip. The only ones who might have a problem with that are their two cats. They’ll return to sea for the next adventure.

“One of the cats gets a little seasick and the other one just doesn’t like anybody, but they both were fine,” Julia Erben said, adding, “They may not be happy about that,” she said.

The next trip will cover the Down East Loop, which is similar to the last one. The couple will again run around the tip of Florida, up the East Coast, enter the Hudson River, but this time they’ll take a right at the St. Lawrence River and travel around Northeast Canada before heading back down the eastern seaboard, the way they came.

“What I want more of is cruising. There’s a lot of places left to go to and places we enjoyed we’d go to again,” Julia Erben said.

The two share the trip responsibilities, each with their own expertise. Julia Erben is planner and researcher, and a retired college professor. Steve, a former mechanical engineer, does boat maintenance.

Both are West Coast natives — Julia’s from California, Steve’s from Seattle — but want to keep cruising the eastern U.S. After the Down East Loop, they’ll get a little tropical, spending the winter in the Bahamas.

PANAMA CITY — Some couples ease into retirement — a quiet beach bungalow, a cozy country place — but not the Erbens. They set out on a 6,200-mile boat trip, circumnavigating half the U.S.

On Jan. 5, 2013, a day after Steve Erben retired, he and his wife Julia raised anchor on their 42-foot boat “Erben Renewal” and didn’t come home to Panama City for 11 months.

The trek, called the Great Loop or Great Circle Loop, carried them south along the coast of Florida, up the length of the eastern seaboard, into the Hudson River in New York City, out through the Erie Canal, into the Great Lakes, through the rivers in the middle of the country and finally back into the Gulf of Mexico at Mobile, Ala.

“I think we enjoyed it even more than we thought we would. It’s a phenomenal trip. It’s just an adventure of a lifetime,” Julia Erben said. “It was so good that we’re fixing to leave hopefully next week or the week after to continue cruising.”

The Erbens got the idea after meeting a couple at the Hole in the Wall restaurant in Apalachicola in spring 2011. The strangers had made the trip, and it piqued the Erbens’ interest.

“We kind of explored it after that and said, ‘Gee that would be a fun thing to do,’ ” Julia Erben said.

The couple said greatest part wasn’t a single sight or experience — and there were some great ones — but the people they met. Each community's friendly denizens amazed them; they were so willing to help strangers.

Fellow boaters, shopkeepers and people they just happened to run into would offer car keys, so the Erbens could get into town for groceries.

“Pretty amazing people that we ran into — it really renews your faith in the goodness of humanity,” Steve Erben said, adding “It’s amazing what people will do for complete strangers.”

The couple wasn’t without their own means of transportation though. They brought their bikes and were able to get out and see the sights. They said it’s incredible how accessible cities are from a boat.

At the nation’s capital, they docked at the Washington Channel, a short dingy ride and 15-minute walk from the Smithsonian Institution on the National Mall.

Steve Erben noted ships were the primary means of transportation before cars and highways, so the cities grew up on the water and mariners today get a completely different experience when they arrive. He said cruising into New York City was pretty special, particularly seeing the Statue of Liberty from the water.
They moored in New Jersey, across from Manhattan, and got a totally different a view of the city, which they’d visited before. Their boat perch cast the Big Apple in a whole new light, as the skyscrapers lit up at evening.

The Erbens docked in downtown Chicago during the summer and said that was a lot of fun too. The warm weather meant plenty festivals, free music and excitement as they traveled through the Great Lakes region.

Then they traveled slowly through the heart of the country, down the Mississippi and other rivers, taking detours when they felt like it. And eventually accompanied by dolphins, they pulled back into familiar waters.

Other loopers

They weren’t the only ones who made the loop last year. A total of 75 circumnavigated the eastern U.S. in 2013 and 1,086 have done it since 2000, according to the America’s Great Loop Cruiser’s Association, which tracks the loopers. The group lists the trip at 6,200 miles and praised the Erbens’ achievement.

“The journey is both adventuresome and challenging,” said Janice Kromer, the group’s executive director. “Their accomplishment should be recognized by those in the boating world.”

Despite 11 months at sea, the couple didn’t get cabin fever. The trip was well-planned, and the boat was the right size.

“If you’ve got the right frame of mind and you're comfortable on your boat, and you’ve got the necessary skills not to be nervous, it’s not a hardship at all,” Steve Erben said, adding, “We didn’t have a yearning to get off the boat.”

In fact, they were so comfortable they’re about to leave on another similar-length trip. The only ones who might have a problem with that are their two cats. They’ll return to sea for the next adventure.

“One of the cats gets a little seasick and the other one just doesn’t like anybody, but they both were fine,” Julia Erben said, adding, “They may not be happy about that,” she said.

The next trip will cover the Down East Loop, which is similar to the last one. The couple will again run around the tip of Florida, up the East Coast, enter the Hudson River, but this time they’ll take a right at the St. Lawrence River and travel around Northeast Canada before heading back down the eastern seaboard, the way they came.

“What I want more of is cruising. There’s a lot of places left to go to and places we enjoyed we’d go to again,” Julia Erben said.

The two share the trip responsibilities, each with their own expertise. Julia Erben is planner and researcher, and a retired college professor. Steve, a former mechanical engineer, does boat maintenance.

Both are West Coast natives — Julia’s from California, Steve’s from Seattle — but want to keep cruising the eastern U.S. After the Down East Loop, they’ll get a little tropical, spending the winter in the Bahamas.

“The next couple years my desire is to spend some time in the Caribbean,” Steve Erben said.